Lawyers take their protest against the government's plans to cut legal aid to the Houses of Parliament last month. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

Reducing barristers' and solicitors' fees should be an easy policy sell in an era of austerity. The government can rely on popular prejudice against "fat cat lawyers" to bolster its case. But the coalition's consultation on transforming legal aid, which closed on 4 June, has provoked a desperate legal revolt that is beginning to reverberate as the implications of the proposed £220m cuts are understood.

In a parliamentary session where the government's legislative programme looks so thin, it is surprising such far-reaching changes – mainly to criminal legal aid – have not been included in a bill; ministers expect to enact them through statutory instrument. The justice select committee begins an inquiry on 11 June.

Disentangling the self-interest of lawyers from the requirements of justice is never easy.Ken Clarke, the last justice secretary who pushed through civil legal aid cuts, denounced his opponents as an "army of lawyers advancing behind a line of women and children". Chris Grayling, the current justice secretary and the first lord chancellor since the 17th century not to be a lawyer, has provoked criticism that he does not understand the finely balanced traditions of British justice. Spurred on by Treasury demands for more savings, he is confronted by those who have endured successive cuts in legal aid over the past decade. For many lawyers, the cumulative effect has been to lower fees to an "irreducible minimum".

The consultation contains a wide range of measures. A financial eligibility threshold will prevent those with "a disposable household income of £37,500 or more" from receiving legal aid in the crown court.

Prisoners, who receive legal aid when challenging treatment in jail, will in future have to take their grievance through prisoner complaints procedures. Help from lawyers will only be available for cases involving criminal charges and where an inmate's liberty is at stake. Critics say prisoners have little confidence in the internal complaints system.

A residency test will exclude those with "little or no connection to this country" from receiving support for civil legal actions in England and Wales. This will be harmful to recently arrived victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse.

Judicial reviews will become more difficult. Those cases deemed to have a less than 50% chance of success will no longer be funded through legal aid. The changeis will affect campaigners who challenge government policy. The impoverished claimants who have brought cases against the Department of Work and Pensions over the bedroom tax, benefit cap and fitness-to-work test may in future struggle to find a willing lawyer.

Competitive tendering for a new generation of contracts to represent defendants in police stations and magistrates courts is the most immediate threat for solicitors. The number of contracts will fall from 1,600 to 400 and a price cap will be set at 17.5% below previous rates paid. Law firms warn it will not be worth tendering. The only non-traditional law firm that has expressed an interest is a legal subsidiary of haulage group Eddie Stobart.

In order to guarantee economies of scale, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is removing defendants' rights to choose their solicitor. Solicitors fear their reputation will count for nothing in future. Opponents also argue that article 6 of the European convention on human rights, guaranteeing the right to a fair trial, includes a defendant's ability to choose their lawyer.

The MoJ proposes paying lawyers the same rate for early or late guilty pleas. That will, lawyers counter, provide "a perverse incentive to plead guilty"; miscarriages of justice are bound to follow.

Other proposals involve cutting experts' fees by 20% and fees in complex criminal trials by 30%. Lawyers often compare legal aid to the NHS, as a social safety net. The time has come to see if saving it evokes similar levels of popular support.